In 2009, the Conservatives distributed flyers that said Montreal Liberal MP Irwin Cotler had attended the "overtly anti-Semitic" 2001 human rights conference in Durban, South Africa.

Leaving aside the question of whether the criticism of Israel at that event did or did not slip over into what could be called anti-Semitism, associating Irwin Cotler with any kind of anti-Semitism is more than a bit absurd.

Cotler's main work, prior to politics, was as a law professor at McGill and expert on human rights.

At McGill he headed a human rights institute.

But Cotler was also very active in the Canadian Jewish community, and served a term as president of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

Perfesser Dave said it best yesterday: "Democracy is undemocratic when it gets in the way of free market choices." But Perfesser Dave was joking.

Perfesser Walker of the Fraser Institute said it first, in the Globe and Mail on Nov. 23, and he wasn't joking.

Michael Walker is sort of like the godfather of the Fraser Institute, the Vancouver-based "think-tank" whose far-right nostrums are quoted reverentially by Canadian media as if Dr. Walker had personally carried them down from Mount Sinai engraved on a tablet of stone by the finger of a wrathful and vengeful neo-Con deity.

Ryan Leef
Member of Parliament, Yukon
Open Letter #7

Dear Ryan,

Thank you for your well-written and thought-provoking letter. I won't be able to address all of your comments this time. But I will reply to some key points in this, my seventh letter.

It is encouraging that you believe that civility is important to political debate. Yukoners should be proud that all of our candidates refrained from attack ads and dirty tricks during both the federal and territorial elections. Alas, that wasn't the case across the country.

Prime Minister Harper will be launching his tough-on-crime agenda today. Our criminal justice system is by no means perfect, but the omnibus crime bill will send us back to a 19th century punishment model. Here are some reasons why Canadians need to speak out against this legislation.

The former U.S. drug czar (Asa Hutchinson) has encouraged Canada not to make the same mistakes the U.S. made. The two mistakes he cited were mandatory minimum sentences, and insufficient attention to rehabilitative programs.

Ryan Leef
Member of Parliament for Yukon

Open Letter #5 - September 2011

Dear Ryan,

You missed a lively evening at Fair Vote Yukon's Annual General Meeting on September 7th. We were joined by Katimavik youth who were interested in electoral reform and alternative electoral systems. While discussing the concept of the Single Transferable Vote, one youth reversed the idea by mistake. "First you mark the ballot with the candidate you distrust the most, then the second most objectionable candidate and so on." A bright teenager had accidentally invented an entirely new electoral system.